Just a Passing Moment
by GylzGirl
Summary: A moment of connection breaks down all the barriers Buffy and Giles have built between them. [Somewhat Buffy/Giles]


Just A Passing Moment  
by GylzGirl  
  
Disclaimer: Giles, Buffy, Sunnydale etc. all belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB and everyone else who legally own them. No infringement is intended. Or as Snyder would say, "Don't sue." :)   
Rating: PG-13  
Pairing: Somewhat Buffy/Giles  
Timeline: First or second season.  
Written: 1998  
  
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A light film of sweat formed on Buffy's brow as she pumped her arms to the beat. She exhaled through pursed lilac-frost lips each time she marched atop the teal and pink plastic step. She looked to her watcher who sat at the table, his hands clasped over his ears, a look of pain on his face as he unsuccessfully attempted once more to start reading the same page he'd been on for twenty minutes. He finally stood and picked up the book.   
  
"I'll be in my office. You have another ten minutes, then you're on patrol. If you need me..." Giles nodded toward his office.   
  
"Fine, go ahead." Giles headed to his office, trying not to look like he was hurrying. The door closed. "Desert me." Buffy had almost launched into a full pout when she had this mental flash of Giles doing a Toyota jump as soon as he had put distance and a solid door between her "infernal racket" and himself.   
  
She didn't mean to be a baby about it but sometimes she just wanted his attention. 'Whoa Girl. Selfish much?' Yes, it was certainly a tragedy the way he neglected her. He only moved away from everyone and everything he had ever known, traveled clear across the globe to this pit of a town where his life was constantly in jeopardy. He had to take a job where he was constantly teased by teenagers who didn't know one tenth of what he knew, and he was paid less than half of his old job. He'd done all this only for her, and he hadn't even met her yet. Not to mention that once he had met her, he'd volunteered his body as a shield between her and danger more times than she could remember.   
  
Buffy felt a sudden wave of embarrassment. She stopped her aerobicising, hopped down and switched off the boom box. The embarrassment returned even stronger. She hadn't needed to have it on that loud. She only did that when she was being childish and he wasn't letting her have her way. Buffy rolled her eyes in disgust at herself. 'God, how does he put up with me? Here he is trying to decipher passages that could give me early warning of nasties planning my imminent demise, and I try to blast him out of the county for it.' She suddenly felt an overwhelming need to apologize and headed slowly for his office.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
Giles sat at his desk, chewing on the end of his pencil, still trying to concentrate on the Watcher journal he was reading. It was written in 1508 by Henry Pierrepont, watcher of Annora Miller, one of the best Slayers there was still existing record of.   
  
She was an amazing girl. Her run as a slayer had been on the short side. She only survived about two years, but her bravery was legendary, and her style was exceptional. On no less than 15 separate occasions, she had taken on villages throughout Europe whose entire populations consisted of vampire and had managed to wipe them all out. In the 16th village, the vampire Lothos had gotten the drop on her and ended her life.   
  
Giles absently smiled with pride that his Slayer had been the one to defeat the monster that Annora Miller herself could not. He had thought at one time of letting Buffy read Annora's exploits, but he was afraid she would have considered it a criticism. He knew Buffy wasn't as completely fearless as Annora had been and he didn't expect her to be, didn't want her to be. He knew that kind of brashness led to mistakes, and while her adventures conjured breathtaking images, he knew there was a reason she only lasted two years. Giles cringed again as the muffled din of Buffy's "music" crept in on his thoughts.   
  
Pierrepont's writing was dry, pompous, and difficult enough to get through without him having to block out that screeching noise. Just then, it stopped. 'And the rest is silence', Giles thought to himself. Immediately following, he pictured Buffy rolling her eyes in that irrepressible way she had of letting him know he was being terribly British. "I am a fuddy duddy." A sudden panicky thought entered is brain and he decided he would have to review his own journals in the coming days to make sure that the writing wasn't as stodgy as Pierrepont's had been.   
  
In a way, he was envious. In Pierrepont's day, people generally believed in the supernatural. You could usually convince the parents and begin training while the Slayer was still a child. Of course, it was also not unheard of for a Watcher to simply abduct the girl between the ages of 3 and 5 and take her to a neighboring country to raise as their own. What with the little value placed on a female child, food shortages and general lack of recourse, it was not a difficult crime to get away with.   
  
How much more difficult this whole thing must be on Buffy than it was for Annora. Annora became the Slayer at 16 but had trained since she was 5. Buffy's training began when she had just turned 15, and by then she was already the Slayer, she just hadn't known it. Plus, Buffy had the added responsibilities of school with a fascist principal just dying for an opportunity to nail her and home with a mother she dearly loved and was unable to share the most important thing in her life with. These were obstacles Annora never had to face, yet Buffy carried on with a smile on her face (well, most of the time). 'Who's to say whom the bravest slayer was?'   
  
He was all she had and he knew it. He was the only adult in her life that could be proud of her for what she was doing. He was the only adult she could ask for even a little protection from. She needed him, way more than she liked to admit even to herself. Giles had to remind himself that sometimes she resorted to the attention getting tactics of a child because she was still learning the adult ones.   
  
Sometimes, he couldn't see her as anything but a child, one who was so scared inside it was all she could do not to shake. It was at those times that he had to practically force himself not to embrace her to him and tell her that everything would be all right and somehow he would make the big bad monsters go away. Other times he looked at her and she seemed way beyond her years, older even than him at times. On those occasions, well, he really wanted to hold her then too but for reasons he would not even let form into words in his brain. This girl, his Slayer, she was his whole world. He knew in his heart that even if fate hadn't made her as beautiful as she was, he would still have loved her as much as he did now.   
  
'Love her? Did I say love her? Put that away Rupert. Bury it away. That will not, can never be.' He knew if he let himself start thinking of her like that, he could go crazy wanting this girl. He decided to help her load her bag for patrol, maybe see if she wanted some company. He needed to think of her in a work context right now. Giles started for the door.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
Buffy crept toward Giles' office, attempting to phrase her apology just so. She didn't want it to be too sappy, nor did she want him to think she was apologizing because she felt she had to. When the perfect phrasing came to mind, she could picture herself telling him and then he would avert his beautifully misty green eyes for a second, then look right into her and smile that ultra-perfect grin of his. She loved him when he looked at her like that. 'Of course, when don't I, ' she thought.   
  
That though stopped her dead in her tacks. 'What did I just say? Well, whatever I think I said, it wasn't what I thought I said. Huh? What the hell am I saying? Never mind. Okay, here's the plan: I go in, say I'm sorry, come back out, grab my goodie bag, hunt the spawn of the underworld, go home, hit the sack and have some nice Giles-less dreams. Maybe even something with Angel in it. Yeah, there you go, Angel. Good plan. Okay Slayer, you may now proceed.' She strode straight up to the door and gripped the knob.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
Giles reached out and touched the doorknob. Before he could even turn it, the door, his office, and everything else disappeared in a burst of white intense light.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
'This is blinding me!' Buffy thought. She raised her arm to shield her eyes. Her mind raced for an explanation. 'Where is this light coming from? Where's the door, the library, anything?' Soon, the light dimmed down and she lowered her arm. She could see she was in a huge room, bare white walls and ceiling, bare white floor. The lighting was now tolerable, like what came through her window on a bright August morning.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
Giles glanced around himself at the crisp white barrenness. He looked to one side, then the other, above, then below. When he looked down, he noticed another surprising thing. He was completely naked. Even more strange was he didn't feel like he should feel finding himself in a strange place naked. He was not uncomfortable or embarrassed, not even cold, only sort of absently curious as to where his clothes might have gotten to. Suddenly, Giles became aware of a presence behind him. One that was soft, warm, comforting and undeniably familiar. He turned to identify the source.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
'Where are my clothes?' Buffy had never been exactly shy but this sort of thing should have been a cringe-worthy event of epic proportions. For some reason though, she felt unashamed and safe. She also sensed that the reason she felt so safe lay behind her. Slowly, she turned to see.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
The Slayer and the Watcher came into full view of each other. Their eyes locked.   
  
"Giles?"   
  
"Buffy?"   
  
Each raised an arm out towards the other, checking for substance...reality. Their hands touched and then both of them, not by will but pure instinct, interlaced their fingers.   
  
At that moment, they were flooded with warmth and more importantly, complete knowledge of each other.   
  
Giles saw before him not only Buffy but also Rachel, Dierce, Charles and every other person he had known her soul to be. The roles were not the same, sometimes she was his Slayer, sometimes she'd been his Watcher, sometimes they got to lead 'normal' lives, but always together. Since the beginning of time and Giles now realized happily, till its end as well.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
Buffy's mouth gaped open, partly at the revelation she was experiencing, partly because she'd never even suspected this knowledge and yet here it was and it was so clear, so obvious. Here in front of her was Giles, and Franklin, Oliver, and Gabrielle. They'd been parent and child, lovers, friends, siblings, and spouses. Always had been and always would be together. 'How could I not have seen this before?' she thought. A single warm tear glided down her cheek.   
  
  
  
******  
  
  
Giles reached out to her and gently wiped the tear away. Just then, everything began to spin. A force pulled them apart.   
  
"Giles!" Buffy called out, slightly panicked. She couldn't see him anymore. "Giles!!" He could hear her but couldn't find his way to her. Everything was spinning so fast.   
  
Then it stopped. Buffy saw before her the door to Giles' office. She released the doorknob and glanced wearily behind her. Sure enough, she was in the library.   
  
Giles saw his office door and turned the knob that he still gripped in his hand. All he could think of was Buffy's frightened voice, calling to him and he felt an urgent need to get to her.   
  
The door whooshed open and Giles came charging out so fast that he nearly ran Buffy down. She spun back around, startled. He grabbed her shoulders.   
  
"Are you all right?"   
  
She nodded enthusiastically and it shook her golden hair free of the loose ponytail she'd been wearing. She looked up into his face. Her blue eyes searching his jade ones. There was a long silence between them. Then Buffy spoke. "What do we do now Giles?"   
  
He smiled reassuringly at her and gently cupped her chin in his hand. "I don't know Buffy. But I do know whatever it is, we'll do it together."   
  
A sweet smile spread across, Buffy's face. She moved forward, resting against his chest, clasping her hands behind his back, and hugging him tightly. He slid his arms around her back, pressed his cheek against her softly scented hair, and they both felt better than they had for a long, long time.   
  
The End 


End file.
